Pork and Spelt Sausage

Time: Late 4th or early 5th century AD
Place: Rome
Author: Apicius
Source: De re coquinaria, contained in: Apicius: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and an English Translation. Ed. and trans. Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger.
Redaction By: Master Drake (Craig Jones), March 2013

Original Recipe:

Aliter: coctam alicam et tritam cum pulpa concisa et trita una cum piper et liquamine et nucleis. farcies intestinum et elixabis, deinde cum sale assabis et cum sinape inferes, vel sic concisum in disco.

Translated as: Another [Sausage]: [Take] cooked, ground, spelt and mix with chopped pork meat, pepper, stock and small nuts. Stuff the casings and boil, then salt and roast. Serve with mustard, or, if you like, slice onto a round dish.

Ingredients:

450g minced belly pork
60g ground almonds
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
100g soaked whole spelt (hulled)
1 egg
Sausage Casings (thick natural pork casings)
Salt

Serves 5.

Method:

Wash the spelt (or pearl barley if you cannot find spelt) thoroughly.
Soak overnight.
Turn half into a mortar and pound to a paste.
Mix the whole spelt with the spelt paste with the minced pork (on a coarse grind), ground almonds and black pepper.
Add the beaten egg to slightly moisten the mixture (you dont want it too sloppy).
Use this mix to fill the casings and tie off as small sausages.
Arrange the sausages in a pan, cover with water and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes then arrange the sausages on a baking tray and transfer to an oven pre-heated to 200°C.
Roast for about 12-15 minutes, or until the sausages are well browned and serve hot.
Add your own roman or medieval mustard dish if you wish.

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